Cut your stalks of equal length, rejecting the woody or lower portions,
and scraping the white part which remains. Throw into cold water as
you scrape them. Tie in a bunch with soft strings—muslin or tape—and
put into boiling water slightly salted. If very young and fresh, it is
well to tie in a piece of coarse net to protect the tops. Boil from
twenty to forty minutes, according to the age. Just before it is done,
toast two or three slices of bread, cutting off the crust; dip in the
asparagus liquor, butter, and lay in a hot dish. When you take up the
asparagus, drain, unbind the bundle, and heap it upon the toast, with
bits of butter between the stalks.